1847 Belgian general election
Partial general elections were held in Belgium on 8 June 1847.[1] The result was a victory for the new Liberal Association, which had been formed the previous year.[2] It won 33 seats to the Catholics' 21, as the latter were split into dogmatic and liberal groups.[2] Voter turnout was 77%,[3] although only 1% of the country's population was eligible to vote.[4]
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54 of the 108 seats in the Chamber of Representatives 55 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Under the alternating system, Chamber elections were only held in four out of the nine provinces: East Flanders, Hainaut, Liège and Limburg. Thus, 54 of the 108 Chamber seats were up for election. The total number of Chamber seats increased from 98 to 108 following a reapportionment due to population increases.
While the liberals gained a majority in the Chamber, the Catholics retained theirs in the Senate. Following the election, the Catholic government led by Barthélémy de Theux de Meylandt resigned. After a political crisis of two months, a liberal government was formed on 12 August 1847, headed by Charles Rogier. The liberals would go on to win the 1848 elections.
Results
Chamber of Representatives
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| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Total | |||||
| Liberal Association | 9,142 | 52.1 | 33 | 55 | ||
| Catholics | 8,298 | 47.3 | 21 | 53 | ||
| Others | 101 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,365 | − | − | − | ||
| Total | 18,906 | 100 | 54 | 108 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 22,572 | 77.7 | − | − | ||
| Source: Mackie & Rose | ||||||
Senate
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| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catholics | 32 | 0 | |||||||
| Liberal Association | 20 | +7 | |||||||
| Others | 2 | 0 | |||||||
| Total | 54 | +7 | |||||||
| Sternberger et al. | |||||||||
References
- Codebook Constituency-level Elections Archive, 2003
- Nohlen, Dieter; Stöver, Philip (31 May 2010). Elections in Europe: A data handbook. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. p. 270. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7.
- Thomas T Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, p46
- Sternberger, D, Vogel, B & Nohlen, D (1969) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band I: Europa - Erster Halbband, p105

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